Black Thought was born Tarik Luqmaan Trotter, to Thomas and Cassandra Trotter, both members of the Nation of Islam. His father was murdered when Trotter was one, and his mother murdered when he was in high school. He spent time tagging “DT” or “Double T” with graffiti around Philadelphia. He sold crack cocaine briefly, and was sent to live with family in Detroit for a few months in high school. Trotter attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts and Millersville University studying Journalism. In 1987, Trotter became friends with drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and formed a drummer/MC duo performing on the streets of Philadelphia and at talent shows. Trotter would subsequently spend some time as one of two MCs in the group the Square Roots: the other one was Malik B., whom Tariq met in college. In high school, Black Thought became interested in the lessons of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

The Square Roots renamed themselves the Roots and released their debut album Organix in 1993. The Roots signed to DGC and followed up with Do You Want More?!!!??! in 1995. Recorded without any sampling, the album was more popular among alternative music fans than those of hip hop. Around the release of the album, the Roots performed at the Lollapalooza alternative music festival and Montreux Jazz Festival. Illadelph Halflife, the band’s 1996 album, became its first album to chart within the top 40 spots on the Billboard 200 because of the successful single “What They Do”. Things Fall Apart followed in 1999, the year the band played at the Woodstock 99 concert.

In 2000, the Roots won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “You Got Me”, with guest performances by Erykah Badu and Eve. The Roots’ album Things Fall Apart was nominated for the Best Rap Album award. For Jay-Z’s acoustic concert for the television program MTV Unplugged, the Roots provided instrumentals. Succeeding albums were Phrenology (2002), The Tipping Point (2004), Game Theory (2006), Rising Down (2008), How I Got Over (2010), Undun (2011), and …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin (2014).

Black Thought recorded a solo album, to be titled Masterpiece Theatre and released in 2001, but the project was scrapped after he learned that the album would not count toward the Roots’ contractual commitments. Most of the songs from the project appeared on the Roots’ Phrenology album.

In 2006, he began working on a collaborative project with producer Danger Mouse, titled Dangerous Thoughts. As of September 2017, the album had not been released.

Black Thought married his wife Michelle in 2010. He has four sons and one daughter.

In February 2011, Black Thought, along with 10.Deep and the “Money Making Jam Boys” collective—the latter of which includes Dice Raw, S.T.S., Truck North and P.O.R.N.—released the mixtape The Prestige.

Together with U.K. artist Lotek, Black Thought appeared on the song “Living in Bunkers”, by Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods, which was released on the Drinking From the Sun album in March 2012. Also in March 2012, Black Thought performed with Nneka and Clef nite at BET 106 and Park. They performed the song “God Knows Why”, from the former’s album Soul Is Heavy, which they collaborated on.

In early 2013, Black Thought confirmed his continuing work, with Jim James and Tunde Adebimpe, on a solo album entitled Talented Mr. Trotter. At this time, he began work on a memoir with journalist and music critic Jeff Chang, as well as filmmaker Maori Karmael.

In February 2016, Black Thought joined forces with Fashawn, Murs, and Del the Funky Homosapien to record a new track called “Rise Up” for the video game Street Fighter V. A music video for the song was released by Capcom, and includes appearances by Black Thought and his fellow collaborators.

In December 2017, Black Thought appeared on HOT 97 with Funkmaster Flex where he performed a 10-minute freestyle over “The Learning (Burn)” instrumental by Mobb Deep. This freestyle went widely viral, trending over Twitter for the next days and hitting millions of views on YouTube. Streams of Thought, Vol. 1, a collaborative EP with producer 9th Wonder, was released on June 1, 2018. Streams of Thought, Vol. 2, a collaboration with producer Salaam Remi, was released on November 26, 2018.

On August 28, 2020, Black Thought released the single “Good Morning” featuring Pusha T, Swizz Beatz and Killer Mike. It was included on Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able, which includes 13 tracks and collaborations with Portugal. The Man, Schoolboy Q and The Last Artful, Dodgr.